Hank Brown's CU-Boulder Class Heads to Washington to Study Art in U.S. Capitol Building

University of Colorado President Emeritus Hank Brown will lead a CU-Boulder political science class on a trip to the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 11-13.

The trip is part of his "Icons of the American Republic" class, which introduces students to the founding period of the United States through the events, concepts and individuals depicted in art exhibited in the U.S. Capitol Building. The 21 CU-Boulder students, along with five students from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, will get an extremely rare opportunity to visit the floors of both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

This is the third consecutive year Brown has led students on the visit to Washington. The class trip is made possible by financial contributions from external donors.

According to Professor Ken Bickers, chair of the CU-Boulder political science department, "This is a remarkable opportunity for our students. They learn about the American experiment in national self-governance in the heart of the government itself from someone who has been an influential participant in that experiment."

Brown has 30 years of public policy experience as a legislator, congressman, U.S. senator and higher education executive. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1991 and in the U.S. Senate from 1991 to 1997.

He retired from the CU-Boulder faculty last year, but continues to teach the Icons of the Republic course through the political science department. He served as president of the University of Colorado from 2005 to 2008. Following his presidency, he was a tenured professor of political science and held the Quigg and Virginia S. Newton Endowed Chair in Leadership at CU-Boulder.